Our own Jiaojiehe House:

• Home page

• From the west

• From the north-west

• From the south-east

• Interior shell

• Breakfast room

• Master bedroom

• Wooden heart

• More of the interior

• The garden

• The original house

• Adding the personal touch

Jiaojiehe environs:

• Jiaojiehe valley and the Great Wall

• More local views

• Winter to summer 2006

• Dream Village House

• The Phoenix

• Paradise Lost
  (10th Sep 2007)

• Money talks
  (30th Nov 2007)

• Beauty and the Beast
  (26th Oct 2007)

"Buy one, get one free" is a familiar sign in supermarkets the world over these days, but in this case we got a bonus cottage when we bought our second house which, owing to 'progress' in the village, we will now most likely sell.

It may have looked charming but the reality was that it was in dreadful condition - look at the crack in the right side of the wall owing to subsidence. It had to go.... Our original plan was to rebuild in the original style and make it a bit bigger. Two things altered that, firstly we wanted to make the end result available to Yuehong's elderly father Guoliang and secondly, the base had to be raised so that it could be connected to the new village waste water system.

As he did with our original house, Guoliang directed the construction of the external shell and roof:

By December 2006, the house was almost ready to hibernate for the winter, to be completed by Summer 2007. We will make the house "winter resistant", such that its energy bills will be minimised.

If you would like to see the nearly finished product then check out the Beauty and the Beast page.